Google accepts Gboard's 'gesture typing' and 'typing correction' features are broken, offers workarounds [Update: Fixed]

Update (October 6):

Google has fixed Gboard’s gesture typing or typing correction glitch. Those who are still facing the issue are suggested to update to the app’s latest version.

Here’s what Google’s employee Andy B (Search & Assistant Community Manager) said

Original story:

Google has officially acknowledged an issue with the company’s Gboard app that’s affecting its ‘gesture typing’ and ‘typing suggestions’ features. The company said they are actively working on fixing the problem, and have also provided some workarounds that affected users can meanwhile try.

Here’s what Google employee Andy B said on the company’s official help forum:

We want to confirm that we are aware of an issue affecting some Gboard users where gesture typing and/or typing correction is not working. We’re actively investigating a fix for this, and in the meantime you can try the below workarounds, which have resolved the issue for many affected users

Following are the workarounds the company is suggesting:

Workaround 1

• Open Gboard app and go back to home screen (note: opening the app is absolutely necessary)
• Go to the Settings app > General > Keyboards > Keyboard > Gboard
• Turn on Allow full access
• Turn off Allow full access
• Go back to message app and bring up the keyboard to verify Gboard is working as expected

Workaround 2

• Go to the Settings app > General > Keyboards > Keyboard > Gboard
• Turn on Allow full access
• Open message app and bring up the keyboard
• Turn off Allow full access
• Go to message app and bring up the keyboard to verify Gboard is working as expected

Workaround 3

• Open Gboard app and go back to home screen
• Reboot the phone (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201559)
• Go to message app and bring up the keyboard to verify Gboard is working as expected

For starters, Gboard is Google’s own keyboard app that’s available on both Android and iOS. The app comes with multiple smart features such as built-in Google Search, typing suggestions, and Glide Typing.

Typing suggestions are nothing but auto-complete options or spelling corrections that appear on the suggestion bar which sits right on top of the qwerty key area on the app.

Gesture typing or (Glide Typing) allows you to type words by just sliding on the keyboard (from alphabet to alphabet). It takes some time to get used to this feature, but it’s a time-saver for sure.

Sadly, several Gboard users – on both Android and iOS – have been reporting that these features are broken. Here’s a screenshot from the official Google forums, showing some of the recent complaints:

Although Google hasn’t provided details on the exact nature of the problem affecting these features, we tried testing both functionalities at our end, and could straightaway observe issues – Glide Typing worked only occasionally, while there were no typing suggestions (or spelling corrections) for many words.

The Mountain View, California-based company hasn’t provided a set time line for the fix. So it’s better that you opt for one of the suggested workarounds. And rest assured that whenever the fix will arrive, we’ll keep you posted.

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